I always felt that the elderly had something to say...
They feel so very good , when they talk about their lives, their experiences & yes praise themselves like all of us. All they need are ears to listen to them, our job is to lend that ear & be a part of their beautiful memories....LETS LISTEN

Monday, September 25, 2006

The first time I visited a home....

I began searching on the Internet, for any old age home in New Delhi, especially in West Delhi, so that it becomes easier for me to regularly pay visit from my college. There it was. I found one in Tilak Vihar on Yellow pages & decided to make the move I had been contemplating for months.

It was a Thursday afternoon of 24th Aug 2006, incidentally the Birthday of a friend of mine, I called at the home & had a word with the Supervisor there, Mr. Saxena. He was very warm & asked me to come over by 4 p.m. so that I could be introduced to some elderly during office hours. Now I had an appointment for a place I wanted to visit for long & at the same time, my friend decided to throw a small party & I had to take a decision of choosing between the two. I am happy that I chose the former & at 2:30 p.m. I set out with the address in my hand, finally able to make the MOVE....

A bus followed by a rickshaw, took me to the Tilak Vihar Old age home, & to no surprise of mine, almost nobody in the locality knew that there existed a home in their surroundings (Something that speaks of the way we care for our seniors). After waiting for a while, I met one of the officials, who asked the security guard to show me the home & introduce me to some elderly & that was when I met Ram.....

3 Comments:

Hi Keshav,Great post. I'm a post graduate student from SIMC currently in Delhi. Am doing a documentary shoot on old age people and incidentally my story revolves aroiund this man K.Lal in Tilak Vihar Old age home. Funny as it may sound, but i've been hunting for its address and the manager - Mr. Rajeev Saxena's number. I do have a mobile number that should belong to him but its unreachable. While randomly surfing i bumped into ur blog and it seems you've been a visitor to the place i urgently need to visit!Well time is the only constraint as i need my work done by the end of the month and as you would've guessed by now, i havent started shooting!Pls mail me back with any info that you have on this oldage home!

Introducing myself, I am an Engineering student in Computer Science from Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering & most people (though not all) associated with the cause as of now are from the engineering fraternity in & around Delhi. Its good to hear that you are making best possible use of your profession to mobilize more & more people for the greater benefit of the society.

As for your documentry, Mr. Rajeev Saxena has been transferred from the Tilak Vihar home long ago. Now there is a new supervisor Ms. M (Sorry, I cannot recollect her name), but she is available only once a week in the home. I would suggest you talk to Mr. Lakra over there. He is the officer taking care of the facilities & the incharge in the absence of the Supervisor.

His Contact no is : Lakra Sir (I would suggest you address him that way, ) 9810796230

Tilak Vihar No: 011 - 28332323.

You can always use our reference (Let him know that the Engineering students that visit the home have given you this no.).

As far as the directions for the home are concerned, Get down at Tilak Nagar metro Station. Take a cycle - rickshaw to Tilak Vihar (mind it NOT Tilak Nagar) Police Chowki & the Home is in a lane exactly opposite to the Chowki.

For any further help you can always get in touch & are most welcome.Wishing you great luck in this endeavour & life as a whole & I would love to see your documentary as soon as its completed.

I always felt that the elderly had something to say...
They feel so very good , when they talk about their lives, their experiences & yes praise themselves like all of us. All they need are ears to listen to them, our job is to lend that ear & be a part of their beautiful memories....LETS LISTEN